


Teapot

by owlberry



Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Character Study, Dream Smp, Enderman-Ghast Hybrid Ranboo (Video Blogging RPF), Gen, The InBetween - Freeform, Time Travel, Web Series: Tales from the SMP
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-09
Updated: 2021-02-09
Packaged: 2021-03-14 16:34:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,510
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29298987
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/owlberry/pseuds/owlberry
Summary: Time is a fickle thing.When left alone, it is stable and safe. Marching along in the way it always has. Following the same paths, the same orbit. It flows from moment to moment smoothly, cleanly.Yet, it is entirely fragile. If looked at too long, thought about too hard, disruptions can occur. Breaks in the fine lines. Ripples and creases, tears and chips, disaster and pain.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 36





	Teapot

**Author's Note:**

> been loving karl's tales from the smp, and after the last few episodes my mind has been racing! with my fics, i love exploring ideas i find interesting that i don't think are necessarily canon. so, here's an explanation of karl and ranboo, and how this all fits together. hope you enjoy! <3
> 
> disclaimer: this work is a fictitious in-universe telling of the story laid out on the dreamsmp. in no way is it meant to portray any of the creators named or otherwise, merely the characters they depict. thank you!

Time is a fickle thing.

When left alone, it is stable and safe. Marching along in the way it always has. Following the same paths, the same orbit. It flows from moment to moment smoothly, cleanly.

Yet, it is entirely fragile. If looked at too long, _thought_ about too hard, disruptions can occur. Breaks in the fine lines. Ripples and creases, tears and chips, disaster and pain.

That is why the hands that handle it must be exceptional. Gentle and fair. One must look, but never touch, never meddle. Simply let it all flow by. Swirl around, ever enticing, while its guardian sits idle.

-

At the center of it all, a palace made of light. Weaved together with gentle, adept fingers. Every hall carefully crafted, every window polished to perfection, every leaf in its place. It is not quite of any realm. Not even really a concrete concept.

When one stands in the courtyard, looks up through the tree’s branches… Time unfolds in the sky. Branching and leaping through the sky, shining quietly in the white expanse. Slowly, it orbits around the palace. Continuing on cleanly, just as it should.

Housed in the palace walls, a young creature. An anomaly of a child. A piece of him belongs to each realm. One from the Overworld, from the Nether, and from the End. Truly, he is the culmination of this world. A perfect, strange mixture.

It seemed only fitting for him to make his home not among the realms, but between them. The child, the prince of it all, grew up quietly. Moved with the warm, welcoming breeze. Wandered the empty halls. Slowly began filling the libraries empty tomes with his own words.

Most of all, the prince watched the sky. Peered at time curiously, lovingly. Took it all in, adored it from a far. For so long, the prince was gentle. Treated the orbiting clock work like a precious collection.

For so long, the prince was perfect.

-

Once the prince was older, grown into himself fully, he began reaching out. Laying on his back, watching time pass. As he did, he would hold his hand up. Longingly curl his fingers. Wish for something more than what he had.

It wasn’t long before time reached back.

Suddenly, the prince was introduced to a whole new world. Quite literally, actually. For his role afforded him much more power than he was aware. Watching the orbit was not his only ability.

No, the prince could reach out. Jump between the timelines. Explore and roam the ever-expanding cosmos. Enjoy worlds growing, changing, dying. Great explorers, builders, adventurers come and go. The prince could see it all.

And see was what he did, for a while. The prince was nothing more than a passive observer. Watching events unfold in the trough of it. Keeping quiet, keeping to the shadows, keeping to himself. For him, a child kept hidden away, that was enough.

His strange appearance would lead one to believe the Overworld was the least influential part of him. His gangly limbs and half white skin tell a story of the creatures. Those that roam the underbellies.

For that, one would not be mistaken. In appearance and some behavior, the prince was much more in tune with his creature side. In his nature, however…

Greed is what all humans eventually come to. No matter how hard they try, eventually it will eat them up in one way or another. Snatch them by the scruff and tint their eyes, force them to see in hues of red and green.

Unfortunately, the prince is much more _human_ than he would like to think.

It starts small. Bumping shoulders with a girl. Instead of moving on, staying to talk. Interacting with those on the sidelines. Trying to learn more about the people, the culture.

None of it was directly interfering, and the prince believed that would exonerate him. No changes were made by his presence. Nothing disrupted. It is what he always did. Watch, listen, learn.

Back at his palace, the prince did not notice. See the dimming of the sky. The crinkles in the timeline beginning to show. The stuttering and shaking of the orbit, as it continued its dance around his home.

The prince saw none of it. Instead, he looked up at the sky and saw only potential. More areas for him to travel to, more people to speak with… All he saw was his own gain, his own excitement.

It didn’t matter to him, if he was beginning to become forgetful. If his sense of self was slowly being diluted with each trip. Each time of play pretend… All he cared about was being seen, heard, known.

And so, with each trip, he became more lax. Didn’t think twice about speaking to a main player. Gossiping about the shoemaker in town, no doubt changing her views on him. No doubt shaking up the timeline.

He didn’t think twice, about pulling one of the fishermen aside… Warning him about the true nature of the underwater city. All its faults… The crack in the glass, slowly growing, ready to drown them all.

Not once did he wonder if what he was doing was right. Not when he tackled the masked murderer from behind, saving the butler from attack. Not when the owner of the mansion clapped him on the back, praising him. Not when all the wealthy guests applauded him, lauded him, _loved him_.

At some point, he must have forgotten, with everything else. Must have forgotten to check the sky. Watch to see if the timeline was fairing well. The little time he spent in the palace was consumed with thinking of his next adventure. Next chance to save them all, be a _hero_.

That’s why he didn’t notice, as the timeline became bunched. Places he never visited suddenly _changed_. Tears and holes and chips scattering their way across the sky, filling the orbit.

That’s why he didn’t notice there in the middle… That particular spot, once so uninteresting he didn’t once visit… That’s why he didn’t notice the chaos brewing around it.

But in his rush to be a hero, he missed the one timeline he should have protected.

-

There is an epicenter to every disaster.

No matter how out of control, there is always one spot to point to. An area where it all culminated. Finally boiled over, finally turned to disaster. There is always an epicenter, where the most lives are ruined. The most pain caused. The most chaos left unattended.

Time is a fickle thing. Mess with it too much and… a disaster will start. An epicenter chosen, willingly or not. A country created, blown up, two presidents dead, one left to pick up the pieces.

At some point, the prince is labelled unworthy. His power is stripped. His memory is nonexistent due to his abuses. He is expelled from his home.

All disasters lead back to the epicenter.

There, in the middle of it, lost and confused, is Ranboo.

Left in this broken timeline, a world quickly spiraling out of control… For the first time, he is truly _present_ , but he cannot change anything. All he can do is watch, listen, learn as the consequences of his actions unfold.

As a house burned down, a boy exiled, a friendship destroyed…

All he can do is face his punishment, without ever knowing what he did to deserve it.

-

But time is a fragile thing.

It needs a guide, a guardian, a protector. Gentle hands to hold it, usher it forward. Time needs someone to look after it and love it, watch it dearly and commend it greatly. Time is a _needy_ thing.

So, with its prince forced out, time hungers.

As Ranboo crashes down into the timeline, his power does as well. Finds the same spot, the same land, the same disaster. It finds the nearest _useless_ character. One who makes no difference at all.

Time finds Karl Jacobs and eats him alive.

-

It isn’t the same for Karl as it was for Ranboo. Ranboo was built for time, built to love it. Karl is… normal. A real _person_ , a real _player_ in the timeline. So, he cannot be snatched away so easily. Taken to the palace—the Inbetween—to live. It would only destroy him.

Yet still, time is dying. Karl is needed, so very dearly. Whenever Karl is alone, time snaps him up again. Throws him into some strange part of the timeline. Tells him to _fix it_. _Fix all of this, please_ —

To his credit, he tries. Karl tries so hard. But his road is not made easy. At every opening, he is met with resistance, met with _death_.

For there are echoes, of the breaks. Scars left after the prince’s disruption. There are shadows of Ranboo at every turn. A descendant with an axe, a butler with an eerily similar voice with a sword… Wherever Karl goes, he’s there. Ready to disrupt, ready to destroy. To kill…

The prince may be gone, but he is never forgotten.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you so much for reading! i appreciate it a whole bunch. take care of yourself! ^-^
> 
> huge thanks to [jay](https://twitter.com/AzuraJay/) and [caz!](https://twitter.com/caz_unknown/) without them none of this would be possible <3
> 
> [twitter](https://twitter.com/aubeerry/)


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